Saturday, November 26, 2011

One football rule that really irks my dad like no other is
the last man red card and penalty rule. He always said that a penalty was sufficient
why do you need to send the player off as well, especially if it’s the goal
keeper. Why should you be punished twice? The rule works both ways, for
instance when Jens Lehman was sent off against Barcelona after 18minutes in the
final of the 2006 Champions League final it spoilt the game, Arsenal took off
Pires (his last game for the club, a real shame) and were down to 10 men. When Luis
Suarez stopped Dominic Adiyiah goal-bound header in the dying embers of the
World Cup quater-final with his hand he should have been sent off and a goal
should have been awarded, Suarez was plainly cheating. On both occasions my old
man was enraged, firstly Barcelona had been given a double advantage and Ghana
had been cheated.

Valencia vs Real Madrid delivered in everything aspect of
football. Goals, bookings, Mourinho celebrating inanely and controversy. There
were 5 goals the pick of the lot being the first from Karim Benzema, so many
fouls 10 bookings, Mourinho jumped on Callejons back to celebrate Madrid’s goal
to take a 3-1 lead and big penalty appeal by Valencia in the last minute of the
game.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Eleven games in and the league is
really starting to take shape the top two are no surprise but the order might
be. Real Madrid since losing to Levente have become unstoppable, after the
defeat. Jose Mourinho dropped Sergio Ramos (read a great article by Football Ramble about his recnt form http://www.thefootballramble.com/blog/entry/ramos-enjoying-life-in-the-centre). Interestingly Marca TV before the
match against Osasuna were comparing Sergio Ramos to the great Hierro, Mourinho
has brought Ramos into the centre of defence and looked like a natural, it’s
difficult to see if Carvalho will get back into the starting XI. Upfront
Higuain has scored 7 in 7 matches, Kaka is back to his counter-attacking best
and CR7 and Benzama are looking electric. Barcelona on the other-hand have yet
to get out of the early gears and looked flat away from home. It’s difficult to
criticise Pep because he’s effortlessly cool, won nearly everything and a
cracking player. However, I think he tried to tinker with his squad too much,
obviously in football the saying ‘If it aint broke, don’t fix it’ doesn’t apply
you always need to add and improve otherwise teams can get found out, but I
think he has just tried to tinker a bit too much trying to perfect things.
Football clubs don’t need perfection they need results and Barca have dropped
more points than expected. This is the first time Real Madrid under Mourinho
are 3 points ahead of Barcelona, Jose has never given up a 3 point lead in a
league before. EVER!! This is exciting Real Madrid are going to win the league
then surely?

Thursday, November 17, 2011

The England vs Spain
game was a far from engrossing encounter it did have some real intrigue to it.
Spain are noted and praised for their tiki-taka technique just as Barcelona are
and the week before the international friendly Barcelona were held by Athletic
Bilbao. Loco Bielsa kept his tactics fairly sane and the rain soaked pitch
slowed down the movement of Barcelona. Bielsa was a cult figure in charge of
the Chilean national team with his adventurous tactics but it was the defensive
tactics of Bilbao that sought most of the praise from the media after the
match. After the game Pep Guardiaola said that “We’ve never played against a team who were so
intense, so aggressive, and has denied us so much space”. Capello
apparently showed clips of the game at San Mames to his England squad. England started with Phil Jones in midfield
and his job was to be big and awkward which he did with aplomb.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

International football friendly’s
are rarely high profile affairs but this Saturday’s match between England and
Spain at Wembley is certainly one to look forward to, although most of the
English press has focussed on ‘poppy-gate’. It should be a fantastic match.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Hello and welcome to my blog on Spanish football. The aim of this blog is to inform and enthuse its readers about one of Europe's most entertaining leagues.

It’s hard to look past the current Barcelona team as the greatest ever footballing side, they are unstoppable and with Messi returning to top form after a reported ‘blip’ with two hattricks in two games who can stop them winning consecutive La Liga and Champions Legue titles? Real Madrid? They too are in free-scoring form with Cristiano Ronaldo notching up his 100th goal for Los Blancos in breath taking speed. As the league stands, Madrid are top with Barcelona just 4 points behind and kick off at home against Athletic Club in just over an hour.

However, we all know about Barcelona and Real Madrid, everyone does. La Liga also has 18 other teams and although they are light-years behind the formidable duo of Barca and Real they often produce quality, enchanting football. Levente even beat Real this season but have suffered two consecutive losses in their last two games (a 2-0 defeat at Osasuna* and last night they were beaten 2-0 at home by rivals Valencia) and find themselves in the lofty position of 4th! In fact without doubt the best game of the season featured neither Real or Barca it was contested between nouveau riche Malaga and rock bottom Getafe. It was a 5 goal thriller with all the goals coming in the second half (watch the goals below).

Villareal and Athletico Madrid have had contrasting weeks in Europe. Villareal who have been drawn in the group of death with German giants Bayern Munich, megabucks Man City and the exciting Napoli suffered a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to City. Athletico on the other hand trounced Udinese 4-0 who have had a flying start to their Seria A campaign. Villareal have a tough fixture away at Espanyol whilst Athletico Madrid will be hoping the goals continue to pour again bottom side Getafe.

*Osasuna shipped 15 goals and only managed to score one against Barcelona and Real Madrid this season.